The explosion of online and mobile sports betting is producing a new cohort of problem gamblers, largely younger men who are being given inducements, free offers and giveaways from betting companies to keep them gambling on their favourite sports. Ann Arnold investigates.

This article represents part of a larger Background Briefinginvestigation. Listen to the full report on Sunday at 8.05 am or use the podcast links above after broadcast.

Trailing CEO Matt Tripp around the offices of CrownBet, it's clear that this is a flourishing business.

CrownBet's three floors in this Collins Street tower in Melbourne's CBD will soon expand to four, to accommodate the technology people. 'I say to people we're an IT house that takes a few bets,' Tripp says.

Elsewhere, there's 'the quants team', establishing markets—the betting options for any particular sports event—based on history, injuries and opinion. There are the sports specialists and other traders managing the betting, and analysing risk and liability.

Everywhere, there are screens: sport on the televisions, dense sets of numbers on the computer monitors.

CrownBet, majority owned by James Packer's Crown Resorts, has just begun a five-year deal with the AFL, as its 'official wagering partner'. It cost, Mr Tripp says, 'under $40 million'. The rewards include the option of massive media exposure—first rights to Channel 7 and other outlets as their official wagering partners.

Easy access to mobile betting on phones is part of the problem. The modus operandi of the betting operators is another.

Australian men—and it's overwhelmingly younger men—are being drawn into a web of betting inducements, free offers and apparent friendship from betting company representatives.

'Jim' is a construction worker who lost more than $600,000 through the Centrebet agency. He's lost his house and business, and has just been through the painful process of telling family and friends he owes money to that he may never be able to fully repay them.

'I've basically just said to everyone I'll get what I can to you over the coming years and do what I can.'

As Jim got more and more consumed by online betting—using his phone at work on building sites, in the car on the way home—he was being wooed by the three betting companies he was with.

He had a client relations manager at each one, who would take him to the footy, the races and the boxing. There were corporate boxes, free food and drinks, and free bets.

Emails would arrive from SportsBet: 'Hope you're well. Just a quick note to let you know that I've popped $300 free bets in your SportsBet account. Have a punt on us. Good luck. Cheers.'

And from BetEasy, which would become CrownBet: 'G'day mate as per just discussed so I've got you down for two spots to attend this year's Melbourne cup. Looking forward to getting the Quaddie with you on the day. And $200 free bets in your account to have a crack. Happy to match your welcome back deposit up to $500 also.'

Jim's financial counsellor, Pam Mutton, is no fan of this type of approach.

'It's an element of grooming people who would not ordinarily be part of that lifestyle ... of corporate boxes, of going to the Melbourne Cup and being in a special box, grand final tickets,' she says.

'Come to the boxing, bring a mate with you, and have a good time on us. And here's a couple of bets, and the general inference is that you would then transact more money through their account.'

Proportion of clients with sports betting problems at two Sydney treatment clinics

One large section of CrownBet's office space is for the 'outbound sales team'. They're the client managers, and they're on incentives for re-engaging clients who have been not very active. They are also supposed to notify supervisors if they become aware of a gambling problem.

There is no legal or regulatory requirement for sports betting companies to intervene with problem gamblers unless the client identifies himself as having a problem. Mr Tripp is adamant that CrownBet is one of the best at detecting, and managing, problem gamblers. But, he says, no business is perfect.

Betting companies can issue credit to their gamblers. They sit outside the responsible lending requirements of Australia's credit laws, because they don't charge interest, so the definition of credit is different.

There's a call to ban any lending by betting companies. On Monday at Parliament House, Senator Nick Xenophon will launch a report by Financial Counselling Australia, the peak body for financial counsellors. The report chronicles some of the impacts of sports betting that counsellors are seeing.

Both the FCA, and Senator Xenophon, say that betting companies have no place issuing credit to people like Jim, the construction worker, who finished up with debts to all three companies he bet with.

If you or someone you know has a problem with gambling call the National Gambling Helpline on 1800 858 858, or for financial counselling call 1800 007 007.

Transcript

Ann Arnold: Sport is unpredictable. Sometimes it goes right down to the wire. And increasingly, viewers have money on it.

Andrew: There was one where the San Antonio Spurs were playing the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Ann Arnold: Andrew had money on the Thunder, in America's National Basketball League. They'd been leading, but with moments to go, the Spurs' Tony Parker changed everything.

Andrew: Tony Parker had the ball and scored, and I remember slamming my computer shut. You'd still be able to see the imprints on the top of my computer here, from where I punched it. That was one for all money and they somehow lost it. And I thought that is unbelievable. But, that's sport.

Ann Arnold: For Andrew, it was no longer just sport. He'd lost nearly $90,000 over several months through online sports betting. While Andrew lost a lot of money, others lose much more.

Tony Clarkson: We've had clients who've attempted suicide as a result of sports betting on a number of occasions. We've had clients who because of sports betting it's impacted on their relationships, either direct spousal relationships or family relationships have ended. They have lost friends. They've lost property. They've lost income, jobs. They've lost everything.

Ann Arnold: It's hard to miss the onslaught of sports betting over the past few years—in advertising and promotion, and in the proliferation of sports betting companies.

[Audio: Montage of sports betting ads]

The full impact of the sports betting phenomenon has not yet been quantified. But a growing toll on the community is now emerging.

Australian men—and it's overwhelmingly younger men—are being drawn into a web of betting inducements, free offers and apparent friendship from betting company representatives.

Reading: G'day mate, as per just discussed I've got you down for two spots to attend this year's Melbourne Cup. Looking forward to getting the Quaddie with you on the day. There's $200 in free bets in your account to have a crack. And happy to match your 'welcome back' deposit up to $500.

Pam Mutton: It's very chatty, it's very matey, it's very engaging, it's 'anything I can do to give you a hand mate, just give us a ring and we'll see what we can sort out for you'. Another way you could call it duchessing, make people feel like kings for a day, so that they will turn over more money through their account.

Ann Arnold: Hello, I'm Ann Arnold and this is Background Briefing.

Some counselling services have seen their sports betting client numbers greatly increase over the past few years.

Tony Clarkson: We probably have about 800 clients a year. Previously, maybe 3 or 4 years ago, it would have been less than 10% that would come in with sports betting issues. Now it's edging towards 30%.

Ann Arnold: Gamblers Help Southern in Melbourne is one of the biggest gambling help services in Australia. Tony Clarkson is the clinical services manager. He says clients find they can't escape sports betting.

Tony Clarkson: The issue is access I think. I have a client who accesses sports betting in a session. You'll have a therapy session and he'll have an email from one of the sports betting companies saying, 'Would you like to access some more money?' Or adverts that pop up on your iPhone and things like that. It's because of those issues, I think, that people are experiencing more problems with sports betting.

Ann Arnold: Background Briefing also asked the Gambling Treatment Program at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital and the Sydney University Gambling Treatment Clinic for their data on sports betters. At the Sydney University centre, those clients had almost doubled. At St Vincent's, they had more than doubled.

Jim: All my family have been really supportive, and most people have. Some people not so much, but that's to be expected too.

Ann Arnold: Jim, a construction worker, lost over $600,000 betting online. He also lost his house and business. He's been making his way around family and friends to explain his situation.

Jim: Yeah I've probably only caught up with the last person a week ago. So it's been going on for a good few months.

Ann Arnold: And what are you saying to them, because these are all people that you owe money to aren't they?

Jim: Yep. I've given everyone some, obviously from selling my house. I've basically just said to everyone I'll get what I can to you over the coming years and do what I can.

Ann Arnold: As we'll hear, Jim, as a big spender, had been actively courted by several sports betting companies.

Jim is a casualty of a rapid cultural shift. It's been said that the promotion of sports betting normalises gambling. Sports broadcaster Gerard Whateley says it goes beyond simply normalising.

Gerard Whateley: The change that has already happened and will become deeper and deeper is that the betting on the game is…it's not normalised, it's absolutely encouraged. If you truly want to have a stake in this, you need to be betting on it. And our kids will grow up with that being the truth and then we'll see what that looks like a little way down the track as to how it changes the way football is followed. Losing a tip never had any great consequence to it. Losing your money does

Ann Arnold: The law change in 2013 which permitted advertising of sports betting in mainstream media was a game changer. Gerard Whateley, from the ABC and Fox Footy, says the betting companies threw themselves at the world of sport.

Gerard Whateley: And opened up, in a tight corporate market, a wave of new money, which sporting organisations, television stations and the clubs themselves understandably helped themselves to, without pausing to think what the social ramifications were. New money was available, they took on the sponsorships, they actively encouraged their constituency, their members to open accounts with betting agencies. And several years down the track it is overwhelming.

Ann Arnold: Big deals are being done. James Packer's Crown Resorts joined up with BetEasy this year to form CrownBet. CrownBet has a lucrative agreement with the AFL, as the AFL's 'official wagering partner'.

Matt Tripp: So we had first rights to the deal with Channel 7, to be Channel 7's wagering partner through their broadcasts. Same deal with Foxtel, same with Austereo, 3AW, SEN, anything that broadcasts football. The AFL then says to the broadcaster 'here's our official wagering partner', they get first rights over it, and then it can go to market.

Ann Arnold: And what about with customer relations and dealing with problem gambling, that sort of thing, was there anything that the AFL asked of you there?

Matt Tripp: In their due diligence process on all the wagering operators they did go through and ensure that problem gambling and how we dealt with problem gambling was checked off—deposit limits and restrictions, self-exclusions and the like—and they gave it a tick once they saw our process.

Ann Arnold: CrownBet and many other companies provide the option for punters to put limits on their bets, or to exclude themselves altogether. Meanwhile, CrownBet's customer net has now been cast even wider. The company has just launched AFL Live Vision, free mobile viewing of live AFL games, as long as you sign up with CrownBet.

Matt Tripp: Costs you nothing, you just need to be a CrownBet member to watch it with us. And we don't expect anything of you. Just as part of the membership of being a member at CrownBet you can watch any AFL game.

Ann Arnold: Matt Tripp says CrownBet currently has about 50,000 active customers a month. This is his third sports betting venture. He founded and later sold SportsBet, one of the biggest companies. Matt Tripp has been a key player in the rapid growth of the industry.

Matt Tripp: The online industry is about a $20 billion industry at the moment

Ann Arnold: This is just the online betting industry.

Matt Tripp: Just the online betting industry sorry, yes. It's growing at a rate where it could potentially double in the next four or five years.

[Audio: SportsBet ad]

Ann Arnold: One in five gamblers develop a problem, that's the understanding of researchers across all forms of gambling. One of the more susceptible groups is young men. And that's exactly who sports betting advertisers are aiming at.

[Audio: pub vox pops]

How often would you put a bet on?

Man 1: Probably once or twice, every couple of weeks maybe.

Ann Arnold: What normally prompts you to do it?

Man 1: It's sort of when the betting companies have a special on a game, it's probably more likely then because you've got a bit more of a chance I guess.

Ann Arnold: What's the attraction for you? What do you like about it?

Man 1: When you're only betting little amounts of money…it's good just to watch the game and you have a little bit more riding on it rather than just watching a game, you're a bit more interested in what's going on.

Ann Arnold: So how many times a week would you put a bet on?

Man 2: NRL is, what, Thursday to Monday, so you'd bet on at least three games, four games a week. I'd probably bet maybe all up $100 maybe, yes. Especially…the first try scorer I only bet $10 and I made $80.

Ann Arnold: How often does that happen though?

Man 2: Oh not very often, it's quite rare. I think I'm a lot better than I am, yeah.

Ann Arnold: For some, like Andrew, it gets much more complicated.

Andrew: It changed from being entertainment to being excessive in that I wouldn't be able to watch sport without having a bet on it. And it also changed from not minding if I lost to essentially wanting to chase back those losses because I was upset. It wasn't the form of gambling that I knew and had partaken in for the previous 3 to 4 years.

Ann Arnold: Andrew is in his mid-20s. He had previously placed bets in the pub or at the TAB, and played poker machines. Betting online, or on mobile apps, was very different.

Andrew: It meant the amounts you could bet on increased a lot. When you're betting online it's just numbers, and you don't actually see the money. So essentially when you say that you've won $40,000, it seems like a whole lot of money but it was just a bunch of numbers. Whereas if somebody had put down $40,000 essentially in a briefcase and gave it to me, it's tangible, and that's the big difference with online betting is it's just numbers and you don't see the money that's going through and you don't feel it.

Ann Arnold: And what difference does that make to how you proceed?

Andrew: It allows you to get into trouble a lot quicker. When it's online it's just one click, and it's such a simple and easy process that you forget the value of a dollar.

Ann Arnold: Andrew has always been a sport fanatic.

Andrew: It didn't matter what sport it was, I always loved doing it, whether it be golf, cricket, rugby union, rugby league. I felt like because I loved sport and I read about it and I kept up to date on it, that that would give me an edge as such.

Ann Arnold: In a Collins Street tower in Melbourne's CBD, Matt Tripp is showing me around the CrownBet operation, which is expanding from three floors to four.

Wow, we've just walked into this enormous room. How many computer screens in this room on four, five long rows of tables?

Matt Tripp: Yeah, it's pretty full on. If you're a sports fan this is the place to come. As you can see, there are several televisions covering all sport from all over the world…

Ann Arnold: 'Several', there's about 20 televisions.

Matt Tripp: There are yes, and we have specialists in all areas of all sports, so we will have a rugby league expert, we'll have a tennis expert, AFL, soccer, the list goes on.

Ann Arnold: These experts help set the markets, the odds for betting on all those sports. The markets took over Andrew's life.

Andrew: I'd get up in the morning and the first thing I would do would be look at what the markets were open on all the different sporting events, and it became in my mind almost like a business in that I had to get up and look at those things, look at those markets to try to get ahead.

Ann Arnold: Andrew was placing big bets, and was spurred on by occasional wins.

Andrew: The largest single win I had was about $35,000 to $40,000. That was in the last couple of months, off I think a $5,000 bet. At that point in time I remember thinking, okay, I just need one or two more of those potential wins and I'm out of here. And I kept on telling myself if I do have those wins then I will pull up stumps. Whether or not I would have, who knows. But yes, those kind of wins do give you the thought that maybe what you're doing is right, and it could become a business.

Ann Arnold: That notion was bolstered by contact from his betting agency, Luxbet.

Andrew: I remember when I did win that, I got a message from the particular sports betting agent, saying that because I was now betting in such large amounts that I was a VIP customer, and I had my own account manager and they would be looking after me. And if there was anything I needed or wanted they would be there straight away for me.

Ann Arnold: What do you think that was about, why were they contacting you then?

Andrew: Well, I don't remember them writing to me whenever I lost. Now that I'd won, they seemed to show a little bit more interest in me. In hindsight they're probably just trying to make sure that I continue betting with them, rather than I take my money out and I run. They want to give me as many opportunities to continue betting with them as possible.

Ann Arnold: Andrew did keep betting. When he started, he had $100,000.

What happened…there was $100,000 there. How much was left by the end of it?

Andrew: It was all gone. I originally…my girlfriend saw my betting account, she actually tried to contact them to find out how much I had been betting because in the last couple of months I kept it hidden. They of course wouldn't allow her my information. But we'd been together for a while so she knew all my passwords and whatnot and saw it on there and confronted me about it. And she convinced me to do some counselling, and a couple of days later I was receiving some counselling.

Ann Arnold: Andrew feels wiser in hindsight about the system he was trying to beat.

Andrew: They've got guys back there that know their maths. They're there to minimise their losses and make their gains. So that's why I had to ask myself; okay, are you smarter than a whole bunch of mathematicians? Probably not. So it came to a point where I had to accept that I couldn't beat the system and that my love of sport should just be that.

Ann Arnold: Can the system be beaten? Jake Newstadt has a unique insider's view.

Jake Newstadt: It's actually very simple. Like, it just takes watching a few bets of a client to know whether they are a good, astute punter or just a not-informed gambler.

Ann Arnold: Jake Newstadt was a commerce graduate with a passion for horse racing and betting, who was hired by a prominent sports betting firm. He doesn't want to name the firm. But as someone now working with people with gambling problems, he does want to explain key aspects of the system. Jake says there is a certain type of punter or approach that can potentially succeed. It takes a cool head, fast computers and a long-term perspective. But the betting companies don't welcome those clients.

Jake Newstadt: I know when I've mentioned this to many people out there it's quite shocking or surprising, and that is that pretty much in any sports betting providers' terms and conditions, which you can find on any website, it will say that they have the right to refuse any bet, they have the right to close accounts without reason. And any punter or gambler who I would call good or astute or knows what they're doing generally gets their accounts closed pretty quickly.

Ann Arnold: So the minority of gamblers who might be successful don't succeed for long, because the betting agencies block them. This was confirmed to Background Briefing by Cormac Barry, the chairman of the industry body, the Australian Wagering Council.

It happened to Jake Newstadt himself, after he quit his job to try making a living from sports betting at home.

Jake Newstadt: I was able to make quite a large amount of money before being banned by most bookmakers in the country.

Ann Arnold: Jake said he also developed an addiction, which blurred his judgement. He ended up losing all the money he'd made.

Pam Mutton: I've got a client coming in at 1.30 who is going to be really quite anxious about where they're coming in, can you just let me know as soon as they've arrived, I'll come out and get them straight away. Thanks very much.

Ann Arnold: Pam Mutton works at Gambler’s Help Southern, in the Melbourne suburb of Bentleigh. She's a financial counsellor who specialises in gambling. We talk while she waits for her client.

Do you see people getting into more trouble and do you foresee people getting into more trouble through sports betting than they currently do through poker machines, which is the sort of dominant group of problem gamblers at the moment?

Pam Mutton: I think for men, yes. I think for men this is where it will escalate and grow. It will become their gambling of choice rather than poker machines, because it's much more surreptitious and they can hide it a hell of a lot easier from their partners. So it will be for them their gambling of choice.

Ann Arnold: One of Pam Mutton's clients is Jim.

Jim: I'm 38, I work in the construction industry, I've been sports betting for the last two to three years online. Yeah, I had a couple of accounts, one with SportsBet, one with CentreBet, BetEasy, and yeah, it was mainly done on my phone online, and it was really only on horseracing.

Ann Arnold: It was Jim who we heard earlier explaining how he's recently had to tell family and friends that he might not be able to pay back all the money he owes them. He lost both his business and his home. He's now working with Pam Mutton to sort things out.

Pam Mutton: When you first came to see me you were stunned, that was the only way I could describe you, you were a functioning catatonic. Unable to really talk, unable to really engage, and had just shut yourself down completely almost.

Jim: Yeah, I mean I'm still stunned now. When I look at it now I can't believe the extent that I got to, I really can't. I can't even explain how I got to it.

Ann Arnold: Jim had always loved horse-racing. And he had always placed bets at TAB outlets and at the races. But he says it only got out of hand once he discovered betting apps on his phone.

Jim: I went from betting just on a Saturday, to it ended up a couple of days a week, then it was seven days a week. It just got to a stage where I couldn't stop.

Ann Arnold: Were you doing it at work?

Jim: Yeah, on building sites, and I'd always be checking the results on my phone or…yes, checking the app.

Ann Arnold: And placing bets?

Jim: And placing bets, yeah.

Ann Arnold: And the checking, was it anxious or was it fun?

Jim: In the end no, I didn't enjoy it at all, it became something that I felt like I had to do, and I was obviously chasing losses and just consumed by it basically.

Ann Arnold: Jim says his wife knew that he gambled, but not that he'd got into trouble.

Jim: I had my own business and my business partner found out, and then I told all my family.

Ann Arnold: Did your business partner find out because there were money problems with the business?

Jim: Yeah there was, yeah, and obviously I was using money to gamble with.

Ann Arnold: Can you say how much money you lost all up?

Jim: It was up around the $600,000 mark.

Ann Arnold: That was through just one betting agency, where Jim says he put 90% of his bets. It was the CentreBet company, which is based in Sydney, and Jim was, apparently, a valued customer.

Jim: They'd contact me and take me to the races or to the football. The guy that I dealt with was a client relations manager. He'd send me an email saying 'I've got free tickets to the races' and they'd take us in a box, and lunch and drinks and…

Ann Arnold: Corporate box.

Jim: Yeah, corporate boxes basically.

Ann Arnold: And would there be a group of you who were all clients, all gamblers?

Jim: Yeah exactly, a group of CentreBet customers.

Ann Arnold: What did that feel like?

Jim: I mean, obviously it was great, it was a good time, to go in the box and get free drinks and food and obviously free bets they'd give you as well.

Ann Arnold: Jim said although he spent a lot of money with CentreBet, he was never in front. He now sees the treatment he got as an inducement.

Jim: I mean, obviously when you're betting that amount they try and keep you going.

Ann Arnold: Did you have a client relations manager from the beginning or only after you'd spent a certain amount?

Jim: I think it was only after a little while that they contacted me. No, it definitely wasn't right from the start. His name was Jess Caine.

Ann Arnold: And did you feel like Jess was a friend?

Jim: Yeah, I did actually. I mean, obviously we didn't see each other that often but when we did we always had a good time, and obviously they wanted you to have a good time as well.

Ann Arnold: Jess Caine is a former professional rugby league player. He's gone on to work with SportsBet, where his brother Joel Caine, also a former NRL player, is a media spokesman and rugby league commentator.

Jim was often able to take his wife or a friend to events, and there were inevitably free bets. He had smaller accounts at two other companies, and they also made a point of keeping him betting.

This was from SportsBet:

Woman reading: Hope you're well. Just a quick note to let you know that I've popped $300 of free bets in your SportsBet account. Have a punt on us. Good luck. Cheers.

Ann Arnold: And there was this email from his account manager at BetEasy:

Man reading: G'day mate, as per just discussed I've got you down for two spots to attend this year's Melbourne Cup. Looking forward to getting the Quaddie with you on the day. There's $200 in free bets in your account to have a crack. And happy to match your 'welcome back' deposit up to $500.

Ann Arnold: That was late last year. Jim says because of his account manager's overtures, he felt obliged to bet with BetEasy.

Jim: He took us to the boxing and a couple of events when they were getting started, so I kind of felt like I had to put a few bets through there because he'd taken me to these functions too, so…

Ann Arnold: Jim's financial counsellor, Pam Mutton, is no fan of this type of approach.

Pam Mutton: It's an element of grooming people who would not ordinarily be part of that lifestyle, part of the lifestyle of corporate boxes, of going to the Melbourne Cup and being in a special box. You know, Grand Final tickets. Here's the…you know, come to the boxing, bring a mate with you, and have a good time on us, and here's a couple of bets. And the general inference is that you would then transact more money through their account.

Ann Arnold: That Melbourne Cup email was from BetEasy, now CrownBet. The CEO, Matt Tripp, says his sales team get incentives for keeping customers active.

Matt Tripp: So they're incentivised to ensure that their particular core customer base who they've built relationships with over the course of time, if they remain active then they're incentivised by that.

Ann Arnold: He says the style of relationships is pretty standard, and he doesn't see it as manipulative.

Matt Tripp: Not necessarily. We're in a pretty competitive market. The events that we are taking them to are generally sporting events, and these people are generally sporting punters. So it's another form of advertising for us, really. All operators do it and that's just the nature of the business that we are in.

Ann Arnold: Matt Tripp, the CEO of CrownBet.

Jim says he now sees the invitations from the various companies in a different light.

Jim: Now I look back on it I can see why I got invited to all these events. I mean, at the time I obviously thought it was one of the upsides of being affiliated to them and betting with them. But obviously now I look back on it, it's because you're putting so much money into their companies. I didn't see that at the time.

Ann Arnold: Southern Cross University researchers have been analysing inducements in sports betting for the Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation. Their report has not been published, but preliminary findings identified 15 types of inducements which encouraged people to start betting, keep betting and intensify their spending.

It is common practice for sports betting companies to issue credit. Jim the construction worker ended up owing money to the three companies he was with. He got this email from his CrownBet client relations manager, after his betting had tailed off:

Jim: [Reading email] 'Hi mate, I thought I'd send you a quick email as I just got a phone call from our credit department in regards to your BetEasy/CrownBet account. They have said that they are close to sending your account to debt collectors. I said to them that I would contact you, to hold them off for a bit. With your account I have allocated $250 worth of bonus bets to give you an opportunity to nudge into your owning credit. Let me know if there's any way I can help.'

Ann Arnold: So he's saying he'll do what he can, he'll try and talk to the credit people and get them to hold off a bit from chasing after you, and in the meantime here's some free bets you can have.

Jim: Yeah, he's giving me a chance to, as he says, to nudge into what I owe.

Pam Mutton: My translation would be that we don't want you to stop gambling, we want you to continue to have turnover through the account, let's see if we can keep you gambling. There is a debt already of over $5,000, and they're looking to further enmesh this person in gambling.

Ann Arnold: That's not how CrownBet's Matt Tripp sees it.

Matt Tripp: To my mind if he was offered a couple of free bets it would be a goodwill gesture from his customer service manager to try and break down that debt. I don't think it would have been a directive from anyone. He would have said, if he had a relationship with him, as all agencies do, 'Here's a couple of free bets, try and break down that debt in order to help you, because it needs to be paid one way or the other and this might be a good vehicle to do so.'

Ann Arnold: Jim's main account was with CentreBet, where he'd lost hundreds of thousands of dollars over a two-year period. At his request, CentreBet had issued first of all $2,500 credit, then that was extended to $5,500—no questions asked, Jim says. Now he is surprised that someone at CentreBet didn't seem to have picked up on his gambling problem.

Jim: I'm sure they had some idea how much I'd been spending with them. You'd think someone might have realised I had a problem by then.

Ann Arnold: CentreBet declined to comment for this program.

There's a call for betting agencies to be banned from offering any credit. Financial Counselling Australia, the peak body for financial counsellors, has chronicled some of the impacts of sports betting. Its report, being launched at Parliament House this week by Senator Nick Xenophon, says credit should never be made available to gamblers. Senator Xenophon will be pursuing that ban.

It's unclear what betting companies should do to help problem gamblers.

This is CrownBet's Matt Tripp:

Matt Tripp: Everyone now adheres to ensuring that someone is trained or a group of senior people are trained in how to deal with problem gambling and the like.

Ann Arnold: So trained, but they're not obligated to take any particular steps if it seems that one of the clients has a problem?

Matt Tripp: Not obligated no, it's a moral obligation that we have. These businesses are not perfect.

Ann Arnold: Matt Tripp says if an escalation in spending is spotted, staff will contact the person and discuss the problem. He says this would happen a 'couple of dozen' times a year.

CrownBet is one of 12 sports bookmakers licensed in the Northern Territory. The Territory's licensing requirements don't stipulate an intervention unless clients identify themselves as having a gambling problem.

Darren, a fly in, fly out mining worker, appears to have slipped through that system. He has lost $80,000 since joining CrownBet this year, most of which was a redundancy payout.

Darren: That was about $50,000 and that was, yeah, all lost in the space of a few weeks through that one agency.

Ann Arnold: At any stage, did CrownBet say to you, 'Hey, you should watch what you're doing here, we see that you're spending a lot and losing a lot'?

Darren: No, they didn't contact me at any stage.

Ann Arnold: Darren believes his increasingly desperate spending pattern would have been obvious to CrownBet.

Matt Tripp says he can't comment on this case without knowing all the facts, but a losing streak is not a reason for a company to intervene.

Matt Tripp: Darren may have lost that money but I'd be very surprised if his pattern changed in the period of him losing that money. So he might be aggrieved. I don't like losing myself when I have a bet. I think it's unfortunate. We don't necessarily take the approach that every client that has had a losing run for a period needs to be contacted. I mean, some responsibility needs to fall with the customer. And we are more proactive than any wagering operator in the country in ensuring that if we feel there is a problem we deal with it immediately, and we have done on numerous occasions.

Ann Arnold: Darren and other problem gamblers who spoke to Background Briefing emphasised that they do take responsibility for their own situations. But they believe the wagering companies are exacerbating their problems.

Like other heavy gamblers, Darren has been offered footy tickets and free bets. When he threatened to go to another agency which had a good deal, CrownBet offered him $1,000 worth of bets—if he matched it with his own money. He's also been encouraged to sign up friends.

Darren: If you get friends to sign up, they were given a free bet straight up and they didn't actually have to fund the account with any of their own money, which I have never seen before. So they just open the account and they get the free bet, and then if they fund their account after that, then I would receive a match to what they funded it with up to $200 and they would let me do that with ten friends.

Ann Arnold: Darren ended up with CrownBet despite his best intentions. A long-time problem gambler, last year he not only excluded himself from betting operators he was with, he contacted all those he hadn't joined yet and asked never to be allowed to open an account with them.

But that was last year. In this fast moving industry, all it took was this year's launch of a new company—CrownBet—for Darren to succumb. He thinks there should be a national register for problem gamblers to sign up to which would be made available to all gambling companies.

Cormac Barry, who heads up PaddyPower, which owns SportsBet, says a problem gambler register would be welcomed by the industry. In fact it's endorsed by the Australian Wagering Council, but, he says, there are complications with working across state and federal jurisdictions.

Darren, meanwhile, is paying a high price for his gambling life. His marriage has ended.

Darren: Yeah, her and my kids, we're not together anymore sort of thing, so that's had a pretty big impact. Health, I've had some recent issues, mental health and also high blood pressure and those sorts of things, yeah.

Ann Arnold: So do you want to keep sports betting?

Darren: I want to win, I want to beat it, but not beat it by becoming absent from gambling. I want to beat the game I guess, I want to beat the system. And I would love to have that money back.

Ann Arnold: If you or anyone you know needs assistance with a gambling problem, you can get 24-hour help from the National Gambling Helpline, phone 1800 858 858. You'll find that number on our website.

Background Briefing's co-ordinating producer is Linda McGinness, research by Lawrence Bull, technical production by Russell Stapleton, and the executive producer is Chris Bullock. I'm Ann Arnold.

t of this program will be made available by the Tuesday following the broadcast.